


Cirque du Altea

by ValkyrieRowan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Circus, M/M, Self-Indulgent, circus AU, keith too, lance wears a leotard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 20:39:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10344129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValkyrieRowan/pseuds/ValkyrieRowan
Summary: The Altean Palace is a circus. Lance walks the high line, Keith is a knife thrower and someone suggests they combine their acts.Aka a self indulgent little thing for my friend’s birthday. Enjoy!





	

Keith breathed in slowly, deliberately and told himself that this was just like any other performance. The crowd outside was cheering, the sound muffled behind the curtain in front of him and mingled with the faint sound of chatter between Lance and Pidge to his left.

“Thanks folks we’ll be here all week!” He heard Coran call out, “Another round of applause for our fabulous performers.”

The audience burst into louder appreciation and Keith was sure that Hunk, Allura and Shiro’s weightlifting and eventual lifting of their lions routine had wowed this crowd. He had argued that his and Lance’s performance not be the last one of the night and he felt the pressure mounting as he heard Coran continue.

“And now please welcome our newest performance, you’re in for a real treat folks!”

A quick glance to his side showed Keith that Lance was fidgeting with nervous excitement, a familiar look on him before performances and Pidge was doing final checks on the lighting and giving them a thumbs up.

“Without further ado I present to you, our Prince of the Skies and the Master of Blades!”

The crowd cheered as the curtain was pulled back and the two of them emerged bit it was more subdued than a moment ago. Keith’s eyes caught on the other three performers moving off to the side and clapping politely with supportive cheers from Allura. Lance was waving enthusiastically to the crowd next to Keith and seemed comfortable in his usual sparkling blue leotard.

Keith on the other hand had to stop himself from pulling at the clingy material that he’d squeezed into and fiddled with a knife from his belt to keep his hands busy. No one had listened when he said he could perform on the highwire just fine in his usual leather clothes but he had managed to keep his fingerless gloves. 

Coran was explaining the act to the audience in grand details, spinning a tale of pirates in a fight high up in the rigging of a ship in the middle of a stormy ocean as the music and lighting Pidge had prepared darkened the scene. Lance and Keith made their way to the two ladders on opposite sides of the ring that lead up to the highwire and began to climb in time with the crashing waves and sharp strings of the soundscape.

A quick glance over to Lance revealed a reckless confidence in his movements that Keith had always admired, his long limbs scaling the ladder with ease. As Keith pulled himself up onto the platform, he heard the crowd oohing and looked back over in time to see Lance doing a flip off the top of the ladder to land just past his platform and onto the beginning of the tightrope.

The breath caught in Keith’s chest as the rope wobbled but Lance just stood confidently, his gaze locked on his partner across from him. Then his blue clad arms were reaching backwards to lift a wooden target about the size of his head from the platform behind him and Keith reached for a blade on his belt, feeling the familiar weight in his hand.

The music was pounding out a rhythmic beat now and the smells of soda and popcorn faded this far up, leaving Keith feeling disoriented, having always performed on the ground. Up here it felt like there was just the two of them with a single 20 foot rope between them and there was a rush of adrenaline in Keith as he prepared to throw the knife.

He waited for the moment the music slowed, eyes fixed on the target that was being lifted above Lance’s head as he stepped forward to the middle of the rope suspended above the arena. He breathed out in time with the pause between beats of sound and the knife went flying. The  _ thunk _ as it hit the target echoed through the chamber and Keith felt the audience’s approval but his eyes only saw Lance’s smile and the small rise in his chest that was almost a chuckle. 

Keith could hear it in his head as he stepped out onto the rope and began to throw knives in a quick rhythm, drawing and releasing as Lance stepped backwards and the two of them began something of a dance in the air. Lance feinted and dodged as the two of them began a complexly choreographed routine and Keith had to struggle to keep his aim true while balancing on the increasingly unstable rope.

He remembered the rehearsals, how hopeless he’d been at first even at simpler balance exercises and Lance laughing at him in front of the others. It was fine for him, he didn’t need to learn an entirely new skill. They were stepping into his world after all. After Lance had caught Keith practicing late into the night though, they had developed an understanding and Lance had started to teach Keith more seriously. They’d spent countless nights with Lance walking Keith across the rope and then discussing the more complex methods to counter one’s shifting weight while throwing knives and doing other tricks. Every now and then Lance would get bored or show off by continuing practice while walking on his hands. That pissed Keith off as did the tight costumes that made Lance’s ass look amazing as always but just felt constricting and too exposed for him.

Lance had blushed when Keith commented on all that but claimed he wasn’t blushing. He defensively insisted the blood had just gone to his head from the handstands.

Despite their issues though they had worked themselves into an impressive routine and the awed silence of the watching crowd was a testament to that. After a few perfectly balanced hits made the target Lance was holding into a large pincushion, he moved backwards to the platform to remove the blades and replace it with bracers. Each had small round wooden targets attached that would seem tiny to the audience own below. Meanwhile Keith kept the crowd occupied by moving to the centre and executing a series of complex knife twirling and juggling tricks with the blades he had left. He felt his feet slipping several times, not used to the odd balance of the rope but managed to keep himself steady and reminded himself of the net below if anything went wrong. 

A moment later Lance made his way back out to the cheers of the crowd. Keith couldn’t help but admire he assured footwork. He made this look effortless. Once he was in position and Keith had moved back they burst into activity again, a rapid fire of knife throws aimed at Lance’s wrists that were constantly moving. It was a serious workout and Keith’s arms strained, his eyes trained on Lance’s dancing limbs and shooting deadly daggers to strike satisfyingly on the targets. Some hit the beams behind him to keep the performance feeling like a fight but Lance dodged away from those at the last possible second with impossible agility and Keith was terrified he’d hit him. 

Eventually he ran out of daggers and made a show of reaching for another and coming up empty. He could hear a child from below gasp in fear for him as Lance smiled and started to make his way forward, a few daggers stuck in his bracers but enough out of the way for what happened next.

Their eyes locked and Keith started to make his way towards Lance slowly, the two of them approaching each other like one would approach a lion. Once they reached the middle they stopped, less than a foot apart and closer than they had been for this whole performance. It felt illicit, the narrative that Coran had spun making them out to be rivals but here they were.

Despite having done it a million times over the last week on the low practice rope, Keith still found his heart pounding in apprehension and surprise when Lance lifted him. It was a smooth, graceful movement almost like a ballet lift where Lance’s hands went under his arms, letting the weight of the two momentarily balance on only one of Lance’s feet. Then he pivoted and set Keith down on the opposite side he had been.

Their eyes never left each other once in the whole exchange, a moment of tenderness in the otherwise dramatic performance of blades and heights. There was a moment where Lance’s hand lingered on Keith’s arm before, in unison, they both turned and made their way to their respective platforms. There was an air of western gun duels to it and the music reflected that with a bit of southern flair to the seascape.

It was of course a logistic choice, Keith needed to retrieve his knives on the other side and Lance lifting him had been the easiest way to do it since he had more training. Keith couldn’t help but be taken in a bit by the drama of it all though, especially with how much he could feel the audience was invested in the story that had unfolded above them. The crowd was cheering and clapping, believing that it was over as Lance and Keith made their way to opposite platforms and started outfitting themselves.

“That was something wasn’t it folks!” Coran said, “The night’s not over yet though, we have one final trick up our sleeves.”

And with that he gestured up to where Lance was walking back onto the tightrope, on his hands. The gasps of fear from the audience became even louder as they realised he had a target held between his legs about the size of a small plate.

“I present to you our most daring feat yet! And of course, it wouldn’t be complete without a blindfold.”

On cue Keith stepped out onto the rope again presenting the blindfold to the audience before tying it around his eyes. He’d had enough time to catch his breath by now but his heart was pounding as everything went black and all he could feel was the weight of the blade in his hand and the coarse rope under his feet. He forced himself forward though, one step at a time. Allura has reminded him to look unsure for performances, to keep the audience on edge, but in that moment he didn’t need to pretend. His legs were shaky and with his vision obscured he was more acutely aware of how the rope swayed with the weight of him and Lance. The effect of his partner was understated compared to his own, even having to walk on his hands but Keith knew exactly when Lance stopped in the position they had practiced with. It was time.

Keith felt the blood pounding in his ears and knew he wasn't ready but he couldn't stop now. This had to be perfect or he would miss, or worse hit Lance. At the thought his muscles tensed and he could feel the bated breath of the crowd as his feet began to slip. His grip on the dagger tightened and in the split second, in the midst of his panic, he made a decision. And threw.

He heard a  _ thunk _ , impossibly and then he was falling. The air rushed past his face and the only thing he could think was that Lance, impossibly, had anticipated his throw and shifted the target the exact amount needed to make sure he hit bullseye. From the roar of the crowds it sounded like he’d made it look planned, of course, and Keith hit the net with a smile on his face.

The net bounced with his weight and Keith pulled off the blindfold just in time to see a blue figure falling towards him and froze in surprise. He didn’t have any time to move before Lance fell right beside him with a laugh, the target landing a few feet away from them. The net continued to bounce them closer together with the added weight and Keith felt Lance’s shaking body as he laughed, his eyes squinted shut.

Keith just watched him for a moment in disbelief before saying “You.. you  _ fell?? _ ”

Lance’s impossible smile managed to get bigger as his laugh slowed and he said , “Well yeah, couldn’t let you have all the fun.”

“Uh…” Keith said helplessly, amazed that Lance had done that for him, made his mistake a part of the performance that the audience roared their approval of.

Their bodies were pressing against each other and neither of them seemed to be in a rush to get up, the cheers around them deafening but a smaller quiet was created between them.

“As far as they know, that was supposed to happen,” Lance declared triumphantly and winked.

It was too much for Keith and his hand reached out to rest on the side of Lance’s face, making him look back in shock, his lips parted.

“Thank you,” said Keith, his voice low and sincere.

Lance coughed and tried to look away but Keith saw the bright color rising in his tan cheeks and couldn’t help but smile.

“Of course uh, not a problem,” Lance was babbling, “I’m a genius in the moment at things like that y’know and you weren’t half bad up there, we should-”

Lance didn’t get to finish that thought because Keith kissed him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please don’t forget to leave Kudos & comments it really helps me out <3
> 
> Some extra headcanons that I couldn’t get in the fic:  
> > Hunk and Lance perform together on the trapeze and they have like a telepathic connection with how good their timing and flips are  
> > One of the elements of weightlifting performance with all the beefcakes is Allura lifting Shiro and Hunk at the same time because obviously  
> > Pidge prefers to work tech backstage but will occasionally run EDM concerts in the circus and everyone encourages them to try to get their music out there more  
> > Hunk competes in cooking contests wherever they go and is nationally acclaimed with many offers for his own cooking show and is in talks to have it hosted at the circus because he can’t leave his family  
> > Shiro and Allura are married now and everyone refers to him as Allura’s husband because he gets such a ridiculously pleased look on his face any time someone reminds him they’re married  
> > Keith was best man at the wedding, Lance was bitter he didn’t get that position but then became maid of honor and organised everything like a boss  
> > Allura also has a performance with the mice doing cute tricks  
> > The lions are a thing and Hunk and Shiro are the main lion trainers but the others help out and hang out with their faves with canon relationships  
> > Allura has a close relationship with all the lions but is closest to the ‘black’ lion  
> > Coran twirls his mustache whenever he says something cool while announcing (he thinks everything he says is cool)


End file.
